Sunday, 8 May 2011

Chocolate sticky toffee pudding cake

Birthday season in the Caked Crusader family is well upon us; this week marks the halfway point and it’s the turn of the CCM (Caked Crusader’s Ma).I asked her what flavour she would like her cake to feature and was surprised to hear the reply of “chocolate or toffee”.I would’ve bet anything on lemon!

Being a good daughter I know the importance of keeping the CCM happy so hunted for a recipe featuring both chocolate and toffee – and here it is!However good you think chocolate sticky toffee pudding cake will be, multiply that expectation by 10... and you’re still nowhere close!

The flavours are clean and identifiable which pleased me; often, when you combine robust ingredients they get lost and the overall taste is indistinct.On a blind tasting you would guess that this was a chocolate sticky toffee pudding.I have to keep typing that – it’s a wonderful collection of words!

I put the toffee sauce in the fridge -this is how thick it became:

Then, I whisked some of the toffee sauce into some whipped cream and piped it on top of the cake to add an extra element of naughty luxury to the dish.It worked really well – I feel that’s somewhat a redundant statement...like anyone would read that sentence and say, “well that must’ve been a disaster”!

I had to take a photo of the elaborate candle I got for the cake.You light the centre and a plume of sparklers shoot up and out lighting all the candles on the flower petals which open, and then rotate playing “happy birthday”.Classy?Perhaps not.Crowd pleasing?Oh yes!I think this photo really captures the speed of the rotating candles:

Happy birthday CCM

Footnote: anyone interested in acquiring their own "showstopper" candle can order it from the Talkingtables website.

Add the chopped dates and leave for 10 minutes – still on a low simmer.

Melt the chocolate – I used a microwave – and put to one side.

Beat together the butter and sugar until paler and lighter.As it is brown sugar, it won’t go as whippy as if you were using caster sugar but you should notice the texture lightening.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Stir in the melted chocolate.

Fold in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder.

Stir in the dates and their liquid.

Pour the mixture (it will be runny) into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.Mine took 55 minutes.

Leave to cool in the tin, on a wire rack.The cake will be very soft and trying to de-tin it too early may cause heartache!

Now make the toffee sauce: place all the ingredients into a saucepan (use a bigger saucepan than you think you’ll need as the sauce increases significantly in volume while it’s bubbling away) and heat, over a high heat, until the mixture comes to the boil.Stir regularly.

Let the mixture boil for approximately 5 minutes (still stirring) until the sauce is glossy.

Place the warm cake on the serving plate and pour some of the toffee sauce over the cake, putting the rest in a jug for people to serve themselves.

Alternatively, you can serve the cake at room temperature, also with some toffee sauce poured over the cake, and some whipped up with cream as a decadent extra treat!

the only think I have ever found wrong with sticky toffee pudding is that it has not chocolate - so glad you have fixed this for me - and thanks for the laugh at the candle - sounds like a real show stopper

Wow! your cakes are amazing - you make me feel uninventive! Haha... I'd like to make a request though, could you try to make a liquorice cake? I've tried a few and none have really worked... Granted, perhaps I shouldn't have used unripe gooseberries in it... Anyway, give it a go? Pretty please with a literal cherry on the top?! ;)

Just to manage expectations, liquorice is my least favourite flavour ever - I can't eat it! But if I see a recipe I might give it a go one day.Incidentally, there was a lemon and liquorice battenburg on Great British Menu tv show recently - maybe try that?

Thank you! I made this cake tonight for a birthday dinner party for my Granny, Sister and Brother. It was absolutely perfect and I've got plenty of toffee sauce left over for ice cream and to try mixing it with whipped cream for a fruit salad tomorrow! I put gold shimmer on top and popping candy, which worked really well :)

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So, the answer to the question you’re all asking: who am I? Well, a superhero never reveals their identity. I think it’s stated somewhere in the contract when you sign up for superhero-dom. Let’s just call me THE CAKED CRUSADER. By day (and night if I’m being honest) a mild-mannered City professional, but at weekends I become THE CAKED CRUSADER. Tirelessly fighting anti-cake propaganda and cake-related injustices – for SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE, ALWAYS NEEDS CAKE (we’ll just skip over the fact that it’s usually me).

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I am a 40-something Chartered Accountant working in the square mile.
My main hobbies at the moment are baking, and setting the world record for the number of cake tins owned by one person.
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